Crossfire is an online debate on the Belltower Website written by students. BBA Students, Faculty, Staff & Community are invited to share their own opinions using the comment section below. What is your opinion?
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The Honor Code Would Be a Big Mistake
Written by: Chris Bogossian, Max Liu, and Brendan Murray
Having an official honor code at Burr and Burton is a terrible idea. It will not work and would change BBA in a negative way. Whether or not the students at BBA “promise” not to cheat, they most likely will continue on with their lives as if they never promised or pledged to anything at all. If Burr and Burton had an honor code, kids would just sign it and say the pledge and then not follow it, even though they signed a paper saying they agree with the honor code. Having someone sign something and state that they will not cheat does not mean they will actually stand behind it.
An example of a pledge at BBA is Refuse to Use. Refuse to Use is a program that will give you a free pass to Stratton Mountain, but only if you agree to not use drugs or alcohol. You sign your name and say the pledge stating that you will “refuse to use,” so it is a kind of honor code. This year, three students have already been caught using and have had their passes pulled.
Also, the honor code can be extremely unfair. One example of an honor code being violated was at Bringham-Young University (whose Morman honor code is “We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men.). BYU suspended Brandon Davies, a basketball player who, on the eve of the NCAA Final Four, admitted that he had pre-marital sex with his girlfriend, which violates the BYU honor code. Obviously, there is a small chance that Davies would choose the day before March Madness to admit that he and his girlfriend had sex — it clearly had something to do with basketball. Someone with a rooting interest in the basketball games (or who did not like Davies) probably turned him in and forced him to admit it. Does that sound like honor? This controversy caused other BYU students and athletes, like Jim McMahon, the quarterback for the Chicago Bears, to come out and question the consistency of the BYU honor code. McMahon said that “some people get away with it and some don’t.” The honor code opens the door to ulterior motives like revenge and puts the essential responsibility of discipline into the hands of young people who are likely to misuse it.
Everyone knows that cheating is wrong, so is an honor code really going to make a difference? All it does is put the burden on the students and create a vindictive culture of snitching. It is already against the rules of our school, and it the responsibility of the teachers to enforce the rules, not the students.
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BBA Should Institute the Honor Code to Reduce the Rate of Cheating
Yicong Chen, Chad Fenton, Eamon Walsh
Teachers tell you that school is not all about grades– it is about learning. Sounds nice, but let’s get real. With good grades, students can go to better colleges, and they can have more chances to get jobs after graduation. As things become more competitive, grades are becoming more important, and as a result more students begin to cheat. One academic survey in 1993 showed that 64 percent of students at nine state universities admitted to serious test cheating, up from 39 percent in 1963. There is no question that cheating happens at BBA and more often than the teaches and school are aware of. So what can be done?
We all know cheating will always occur, but there is a proven way to reduce the rate of cheating, and that is by implementing the honor code. An honor code is a set of rules or principles that every student must agree to (and sign a document) before attending BBA. This signed document not only asserts that students will not cheat, but that they are required to report any incidents of cheating they observe. If they cheat or fail to report an incident of cheating, they will be expelled. The honor code changes the culture of a school from one of teachers vs. students to one where each individual is responsible to his or her word, name, and sense of integrity. If BBA built a honor code, it will help reduce the cheating rate in our school, and it will work. There are two main reasons.
The first one is about education The purpose of building a honor code is not only to reduce the cheating rate, but also to teach students something really important and valuable — honesty. President Jefferson has said, “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” The current system is every man for himself and your personal success is all that matters. With an honor code your character matters more than your grades. Indiana University has established an honor code and here is a statement from one of its students: “Even though I understood cheating is wrong, I still did it before because many students around me were cheating, and I felt that I was at a disadvantage if I did not do it too. Here I never cheat. It does not seem worth it to me any more.”
Secondly, the honor code encourages students to stop cheating, and it really works. It is simply not possible for teachers to catch all of the cheaters as kids are often working together to “beat the system.” It is much easier to cheat (or be tempted) if you are only waiting for one person to turn her back. With the honor code, you know that everyone in the room is holding you accountable. Today, more than 100 schools have honor codes, and more schools are beginning to think about having one. Students at honor code institutions report 30 percent less cheating than students at comparable schools without honor codes. This is the bottom line: BBA should use an honor code because it works.
Opponents of the honor code may say that this will make an uncomfortable social environment because students will tell on each other when they see others cheat and people will not trust each other. This is a weak argument, however, because if you do not cheat, you have nothing to worry about, and if you do, you should be caught. It will actually improve morale because students will know that everyone is earning their grades rather than knowing that some people are cheating and getting away with it. Furthermore, the University of Virgina did a study that shows that the percentage of students who tell on others in a school without an honor code is greater than the percentage in the school that has an honor code. The fact is that “snitching” occurs less in schools with honor codes because kids are cheating less and turning people in only when they really deserve it.
If there isn’t an honor code, even though students may know cheating is wrong, they will still cheat because people around them will cheat, and the risk is worth the reward; students are always looking for a competitive edge. The honor code sets a tone that the kids themselves do not want cheating. The kids own the situation, and it makes people who still cheat more isolated. The honor code allows kids to police themselves and understand what it means to stand by their word; it teaches honesty. The honor code teaches kids to rely on other people doing the right thing because it is right and your word means something.
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Crossfire is an online debate on the Belltower Website written by students. BBA Students, Faculty, Staff & Community are invited to share their own opinions using the comment section below. What is your opinion?
I would mainly like to respond to your insight on Refuse to Use. But first I’ll offer my humble opinion about honor codes.
Let me first applaud you for starting a dialog on such an interesting topic. I personally believe that an honor code will not do much in the short term to deter cheaters and liars. The Liberal Arts school I attended, Colorado College, had an honor code and I think its impact on cheating was marginal.
Maybe it is a fact of life that that those obsessed with their self-interests will get better grades and pay fewer taxes than they should. Yes, the greedy will benefit at the cost of the honest. Your neighbor’s avarice will spill over into your life like a toxic sludge. An honor code will force many students to pause and reflect but the cheaters out there, who have not recognized the inherent dishonor of cheating, may easily be able rationalize their unscrupulous behavior.
Many cheaters that I knew in high school and college showed the signs of an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex (the judgment center in our brain that is not fully developed until we are 26) mixed with raging hormones. I’m not sure if they reflected on their behavior at the time, or since. I know that I have thought a lot about the vows I’ve taken in life and I’ve arrived at the belief that the best part of a vow is not to keep the dishonest honest. Rather, it is to instill pride and provide a place for reflection. It gives the honest a chance to say, “I’m really proud that I stuck to my guns” or those who succumbed to temptation, “I regret that I broke a promise to myself and I will try to mend my ways.”
I think the pledge that Refuse to Use has students take provides a chance for pledge takers and breakers, parents, volunteers, community members, and those students who refuse to be involved with the program at all, to have a long think about what honesty means. I don’t think Refuse to Use is meant to paint people certain colors. There is no “right” and “wrong.” Honor is not binary. But, philosophies aside, I know that as a graduate of BBA that Refuse to Use has had a positive impact.
“Idle hands are the devil’s playthings” was true in Manchester, Vermont during high school when I was a student (I graduated in 2001). I played three sports, was a good student, and had enriching summer experiences. I was busy kid yet I was no stranger to mischief and he no stranger to me. Akin to the mischief that I perpetrated was boredom and the pressures of academics, athletics, and girls. Even with everything I had going on, I was easily bored in Manchester, VT. My senior year I couldn’t play basketball because I just had shoulder surgery. During this time I made choices that I ordinarily would not have made. I was bored and there were few positive alternatives that are currently offered by the Collaborative.
I am glad that the Collaborative is starting to tackle the boredom that was like a virus to my friends and me in high school. The Refuse to Use program has forced people in this community to think more deeply about solutions to this boredom. I commend the Collaborative and I commend the authors of these posts for the profundity of their thought.
Hey Jon (and Yicong, Chad, Eamon, Chris B., Max, and Brendan), thanks for the thoughtful (and articulate) posts. I’m going to weigh in on the side of an honor code being a good thing. Not because I or anyone else is especially good at keeping them. The fact that we aren’t especially virtuous is precisely why it’s a good idea. We all need help doing what we know inside somewhere is the right thing. Sure people — you and I included — break codes; but since when do let the perfect be the enemy of the good?
And for the record, my high school had an honor code. We signed every test, “I pledge that I have neither given nor received information concerning this test.” That was almost 40 years ago!
John Wilson is a credit to the Northshire Community, a great representative of Burr and Burton, and someone worth listening to very, very carefully.
Congratulations to The Belltower for provoking such thoughtful discussion.